NZ unleashes sonic Manilow weapon New Zealand has followed the lead of an Oz local council and intends to unleash the ultimate deterrent against Christchurch "mallrats" - the Barry Manilow sonic weapon. The city intends to pipe the lift-music crooner through the central mall district, letting Mandy and Can't Smile Without You do what law enforcement officials …
I'm guessing the long term strategy of alienation will be for these unruly people to care for their elders that kept screwing with them. Treat them differently and they'll return the favor.
I grew up in an area with nothing to do for teenagers. We ended up hanging out wherever we could. The cops didn't like us hanging out at the parks, but there wasn't much else to do unless we would have been expected to sit in front of the t.v. If it wasn't there, then if someone had a car, we'd be at the beach with the same problem.
The biggest thing people need to remember is that most of these kids are decent. They're still learning how to be adults and not act like idiots (although, most adults I deal with still act like idiots). Have a cop remind them to quit being jerks, but unless they're really doing something wrong (most loitering teens are irritating, but it doesn't need to be punished) cut them some slack. Maybe give them a place to hang out where the police can patrol by to and from the station.
Doesn't the United Nations have something major to say about the use of "Cruel and Unusual" punishments?
[I doubt Bazza's going to be complaining though: just think of all the extra dosh he will be receiving via the NZ equivalent of the Performing Right Socisty for all these extra public performances of his works]
AC writes, "I'm not familiar with Manilow's work."
Thou art a very lucky fellow, to not have been around in that earlier decade, when it was sometimes impossible to avoid this stuff on the radio . Trust us, this is one case where innocence is bliss.
"Has anyone done any research on this subject?"
No! Don't do it! It's both painful and known to cause dain bramage. Remember, you've been warned.
Though it may seem cruel, you can understand the problem and the end does justify the means.
as to what some annonymous coward said ("Is it known to be more effective at dispersing teenagers than Shostakovich or Bartok, say?") If you were to play these composers, not that i have heard of them, the teenagers would just block it out. As a hater of Barry Manilow, I would say that his music would drive me mad even if I could block out some of it. Anyway some teenagers can listen to classical music, such as Wagner.
Here in the States, when malls start getting frequented by undesirable delinquents, people simply stop shopping there. Eventually the delinquents go away in search of more interesting haunts. I mean, sure, the mall and all of its stores go out of business, and you're left with a cavernous, ugly building and parking lot blighting the neighborhood (large, weather-stained "For Lease" sign optional) - but the delinquent problem is most certainly no more.
Hamburg Hauptbahnhof regales to the sound of Bach, Beethoven and Wagner. The minute you step off the train, an air of civility warbles through the tannoy; a frequent thought is "well, this is rather nice".
What you may not know is that it deters drug addicts -- complex thematic development tends to disorient substance abusers, whilst also gently disabusing them of their perceived limitless personal freedoms.
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Since it won't stop their parents shopping there the kids will still be there, only they will be pissed off. The correct strategy is to play pre-teen music and have clowns handing out balloons, then it will be so uncool to be seen their they will adopt camouflage techniques, or hang around with their parents and moan loudly about being dragged around the shops whenever another teenager is in sight. Although personally I would rather kids hang around the mall because it's somewhere I'm very unlikely to be.
Why bother with Manilow - he's been knocked from his perch.
James Blunt is now the insipid choice of the elderly (but horny) pensioner.
Where's the Paris Hilton angle on this story? Maybe they should play her songs too - they are obviously not very popular with the yoof... unlike her videos.
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